A Group of Six British Citizens Jailed for £1m Arson Attack on Storage Facility Containing Aid for Ukraine

A group of six individuals from Britain working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a located in London warehouse that was holding humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

Sentencing the men, the judge at the central criminal court stated that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian state.

Dylan Earl was given a 17-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “leading role”. Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given twelve years in prison with one year on extended licence. The offences they admitted made them the first individuals to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was given seven years in prison. The trio were each convicted of serious fire-setting and given a further year on supervised release by the court.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years with an extra year on extended licence after being found guilty of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts relating to another plot in the Mayfair area.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk and resulted in £1m in damage in March last year.

The proceedings revealed that the 21-year-old Earl and the 24-year-old Reeves did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner group, representing the Russian government.

The group selected the warehouse because it was being used to supply emergency relief and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an intentional fire ten days afterward in the Spanish capital, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit assumed control of the investigation.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had videos of the storage facility blaze being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an account with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the communications showed that preliminary surveillance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also deliberated.

Investigators discovered that the defendant Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping the dissident Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to face prison”.

The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech nation.

In a residence inspection, police located a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The court heard he was a member of multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was driven by “simple and ugly greed”.

“This legal matter concerns the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence using online platforms to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”

She determined the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” irrespective of if the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner organization is banned by the British authorities as a terrorist group.